With the USAC West Coast 360’s running alongside the USAC National Midgets on Wednesday and Thursday night in Ventura, CA as part of the Turkey Night Grand Prix, Carson Macedo took advantage of the twin billing and climbed aboard the potent Tarlton Motorsports No. 21x machine for one final time in 2016.
“We had a really good car both nights, and if we don’t have our issue at the start of the race, I truly think we battle for the win,” Macedo said. “We showed we had a good car as we charged from the back to finish fourth.”
Qualifying on Wednesday night, Macedo would time the Elite Landscape Construction/Tarlton and Son, Inc./Executive Auto Sales backed machine in 10th fastest in his qualifying flight before running second in his heat race.
After the race was completed, Macedo would in fact be scored the winner as the driver who initially won was penalized for jumping a start.
Moving into the feature event, the 2016 USAC National Midget Series Rookie of the Year would find himself back in the eighth row, and needing to finish inside the Top-Eight to lock into the Thursday night feature event.
In a very fast paced 20-lap feature event, Macedo did well on the tight confines of the Ventura Raceway. Methodically working his way forward, Macedo would take the checkered flag in the seventh spot and safely secure a spot in the Thursday night A Main event.
During the Saturday night redraw; Macedo would have lady luck on his side early in the night as the two-pill would put him on the front row of the feature event alongside Geoff Ensign.
When the race came to life, Macedo and Ensign would battle hard up front though Macedo would find himself in the second spot. A few laps into the race Macedo’s entry would let out a few puffs of smoke and would then develop a fire in the engine compartment, which forced Macedo to come to a stop.
With Macedo just fine and no apparent issues on the car, he would tag the back of the pack with his work cut out for him. A couple of timely cautions would allow Macedo to make up ground on restarts, and he was back up inside the Top-10 in no time at all.
Piloting a very strong Tarlton and Son entry, Macedo would race his way back up to finish in the fourth spot.
“I think we just had some cold oil ignite and it caused a little fire,” Macedo said. “It was kind of a bummer because we really had a strong racecar. I have to thank Paul Baines and the guys for their hard work, as well as Tom and Tommy Tarlton for evetything they do for me.”
Tarlton Racing would like to thank Elite Landscape Construction, Tarlton and Son, Inc., Executive Auto Sales, Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino, Pabco Gypsum, Bandy and Associates, All Star Performance, Corporate America Investments, and BG Lubricants for their support through the 2016 season.